The Veteran's claims for service connection for various conditions, including high cholesterol and its related conditions, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, aortic sclerosis, left lower extremity neuropathy, right lower extremity neuropathy, pulmonary granulomatous, bilateral pleural fibrosis, chronic right shoulder pain, upper extremity neuropathies, easy bruising, GERD, skin cancer, adrenal adenomas, colon polyps, enlarged prostate, and perforated tympanic membrane are remanded due to the need for additional medical opinions.
The deciding factor: The claims involve presumptive service connection based on herbicide exposure in Vietnam. Additional evidence is needed to determine if these conditions are related to service.
- Claimed conditions
- High Cholesterol, Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy, Aortic Sclerosis, Left Lower Extremity Neuropathy, Right Lower Extremity Neuropathy, Pulmonary Granulomatous, Bilateral Pleural Fibrosis, Chronic Right Shoulder Pain, Left Upper Extremity Neuropathy, Right Upper Extremity Neuropathy, Easy Bruising, Gastrointestinal Reflux Disease (GERD), Skin Cancer, Bilateral Adrenal Adenomas, Colon Polyps, Enlarged Prostate, Perforated Tympanic Membrane
- How they argued it
- Presumptive (no nexus needed)
- Exposure basis
- Burn pits / airborne hazards
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- October 2, 2020
- Citation
- 20064377
Veterans Law Judge
Decisions by this judge: 1,549 · Granted: 26% (granted or partly granted, in the vetted decisions on this site)
Judge attribution: 2025 complete; earlier years partial.
This is a plain-language summary generated by AI from a public Board of Veterans’ Appeals decision. It can contain errors — always verify against the original. Look up the original decision on VA.gov (opens in a new tab) using citation 20064377.
What this means for you
A remand is not a loss. The Board sent the case back for more development — often a new exam or missing records — before making a final decision. Many remands later end in a grant, and the decision spells out exactly what the Board wanted to see.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Denied
The Veteran's ESRD is denied as not related to service, including herbicide agent exposure. The skin cancer of the right ear remains under remand for further evaluation.
- Granted
The Veteran is granted service connection for erectile dysfunction, PTSD, and enlarged prostate as of June 19, 2024. The effective date for these conditions is the day VA received notice of the intent to file the claim that led to the grant of service connection.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has remanded the case due to a procedural error in how the AOJ handled the Veteran's claims for service connection for an enlarged prostate disability and elevated PSA levels. The Veteran filed separate claims, but the AOJ treated them as one issue. The Board now needs to address both issues separately.
- Denied
The Veteran's GERD was not characterized by symptoms of material weight loss, hematemesis, or melena with moderate anemia; or other symptom combinations productive of severe impairment of health. Therefore, the Veteran is not entitled to a disability rating in excess of 10 percent prior to January 31, 2024 and denied for a rating in excess of 30 percent after that date.
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